Thank you Noel for the informative post. For my action/wild life I use the D500. It does a very good job of tracking. (I do pan very smoothly which I think is half the job!) I have a lot of good Nikkor glass. I am at the crossroad at the moment. I know the mirrorless is a given, however, I look at the D850/Z7, similar price point, share the same sensor, .. Z is weak in subject tracking which is a deal-breaker for me. It seems the the D850 may be replaced by the D860 and the Z7 with the Z7s or perhaps the Z8? who knows. If the subject tracking and a couple of other changes were sorted in the Z7 upgrade, I thing I would go that way, otherwise the up-dated brilliant D850 would be my choice. By comparison Noel, what other Nikon cameras do you use? Thanks again, .. Barry Manclark Australia.
What kind of editing program do you use? The 100% crops look absolutely trash, so much compression artifacts that any of those shots can't be called sharp. Hard to tell whether any of the shots are actually in focus.
Best AF for pets I've experienced is D500 and D7500 (I've owned both) with AF-P lenses. It can get those last frames in focus right before the pet exits the frame. Had bought a Z50 and it didn't even come close. Not even in the same ballpark BUT...for portraits using eye AF the Z's excel for sure. It doesn't matter how fast the D500 is, it doesn't "see" an eye. If you can't afford a Z9, I think a modest approach is to still to shoot D500 for sports and wildlife and pick up a Z for portraits. Covers all your bases. Not exactly cheap but not exactly expensive either.
Good video. I love my z6 overall but tracking moving subjects is flat out disappointing. My best success is AFC+dynamic, but that's not great and it's very hard to point at a moving subject like a dog coming toward you at any speed. Have had many ok shots but none crystal clear. AFF+eye detect is hit or miss. If the dog sits pretty still then you have a good chance. If a dog is moving, forget it. I haven't tried subject tracking in a while, may try it again.. overall I'm seeing a keeper rate of 2:1. Keeping twice as many as I discard. Id like to see a keep rate of like 90%
Question - for Chuckie running at you - why did you turn off animal face eye auto detection? at 1/800th and running so fast you might get motion blur too - try it at 1/1250 and wider aperture
Jesus dude.. I've been looking everywhere for this video! We Primarily shoot dogs, so this is so important as we are looking to temporarily jump to Nikon ecosystem
Are you ever using the U1-U2-U3? I did when I had the D7x00-kameras, but on Z-kameras they forget all temporary changes when the camera is turned off. That makes it useless, since my saved settings are only default. If you use the Ux, consider to make a video on that and how you are using it on Z. If not, tell me why you don't.
Hi Patrick, I don’t use them because my settings are usually good for all the types of photography that I do. If I’m not mistaken, the Ux only saves some but not all. Let me check on that for you.
Hey there Noel, and thank you for this instructive video! I own two Nikon D600's, but am desperate looking for a new camera. When I look at my budget, I'm thinking on the Z5 with the FTZ-adapter, because I have FX-glass allready. I mainly use my Nikon 70-200 f2.8 (the 1st version). Can I use this on the Z5 with the adapter, and how would it react with Eye-AF and Animal AF?
Hey Jurgen! Thank you for the kind words. I've been seeing a lot of people using the Z5 + FTZ + 70-200 VR1. That said, I don't have one so I couldn't say anything about eye AF and animal AF performance. You could ask it in the Facebook group, Z5 Z6 Z7 Shooters. Hope that helps.
I have to say it doesn't appear to work on my Z6 and Z6ii. I've set up the function in the menu but when I press either Fn1 or Fn2 it changes nothing. Could I be in the wrong focus mode?
Hey Marcus, it depends on how your subject and how you've set up to shoot it. If you're set on a subject, say specific basketball players over time, i'll go for a lower setting so the AF stays with my intended subjects even if there is occlusion. This would be my default setting. I'll only switch to a more sensitive number when the subject is more random, say any given individual in a flock of birds.
I am very new using this feature I have to say i am not having a great deal of sucess, do a lot of motorcycle fotos using dslr and single point afc back button i have a very good sucess rate not so good with tracking
Those images are not sharp at all. I think that you should go to your Picture profiles and set the Sharpness to the max! On every sharpness setting which you can adjust, just set it to the max sharpness, this will help you get the sharpest images from your camera. I had the same images result, where the tracking is working well on the viewfinder/back screen, and after I take a picture and look the image preview, it's showing me that it's focused on the eye, but it's in fact out of focus. By changing the sharpening settings, all of my new shots are crispy and sharp as they should be, because it was nonsense for me, when putting my 70-200mm f2.8 on my 12y old Nikon D700 body, and all of my pictures are sharp, and on this brand new camera body Z6 nothing is in focus (using the FTZ adapter). Just go and crank the sharpness in the picture profile and you will see the results!
Hi thanks for watching! I agree, the A9 has better AF, but I disagree that the AF tracking of Nikon is next to useless. Like anything, it just takes some getting used to and making the camera work for you. Also, what keeps me locked in with Nikon is also the color science, which sadly Sony still has a long way to go. But yeah, A9 wins on AF.
Thanks for watching! How does the firmware 3.0 update fare for you? Is it a big improvement?
Nice vid I really appreciate it.
To be fair 1/640 for a running dog ist to slow, you need 1/1200 minimum to get crisp sharp pics. Better at 1/2000
In retrospect I should have done that. Was working with AP so my only concern then was that everything was in focus.
I love the auto focus of Nikon Z, it’s really amazing.
With the right user, it's great.
Thank you Noel for the informative post. For my action/wild life I use the D500. It does a very good job of tracking. (I do pan very smoothly which I think is half the job!)
I have a lot of good Nikkor glass. I am at the crossroad at the moment. I know the mirrorless is a given, however, I look at the D850/Z7, similar price point, share the same sensor, .. Z is weak in subject tracking which is a deal-breaker for me.
It seems the the D850 may be replaced by the D860 and the Z7 with the Z7s or perhaps the Z8? who knows.
If the subject tracking and a couple of other changes were sorted in the Z7 upgrade, I thing I would go that way, otherwise the up-dated brilliant D850 would be my choice.
By comparison Noel, what other Nikon cameras do you use?
Thanks again, .. Barry Manclark Australia.
What kind of editing program do you use? The 100% crops look absolutely trash, so much compression artifacts that any of those shots can't be called sharp. Hard to tell whether any of the shots are actually in focus.
Best AF for pets I've experienced is D500 and D7500 (I've owned both) with AF-P lenses. It can get those last frames in focus right before the pet exits the frame. Had bought a Z50 and it didn't even come close. Not even in the same ballpark BUT...for portraits using eye AF the Z's excel for sure. It doesn't matter how fast the D500 is, it doesn't "see" an eye.
If you can't afford a Z9, I think a modest approach is to still to shoot D500 for sports and wildlife and pick up a Z for portraits. Covers all your bases. Not exactly cheap but not exactly expensive either.
The D500 is a beast. Nothing comes close to its focus speed. Hoping the Z9 delivers.
Good video. I love my z6 overall but tracking moving subjects is flat out disappointing. My best success is AFC+dynamic, but that's not great and it's very hard to point at a moving subject like a dog coming toward you at any speed. Have had many ok shots but none crystal clear. AFF+eye detect is hit or miss. If the dog sits pretty still then you have a good chance. If a dog is moving, forget it. I haven't tried subject tracking in a while, may try it again.. overall I'm seeing a keeper rate of 2:1. Keeping twice as many as I discard. Id like to see a keep rate of like 90%
Looks like we had the same experience. This is why I"m pretty excited for the Z9.
Question - for Chuckie running at you - why did you turn off animal face eye auto detection? at 1/800th and running so fast you might get motion blur too - try it at 1/1250 and wider aperture
Jesus dude.. I've been looking everywhere for this video! We Primarily shoot dogs, so this is so important as we are looking to temporarily jump to Nikon ecosystem
Hope it helps!
Chucky is one fast woofer! lol. Great video.
Hahaha he is! And he doesn't stray. He's overly obedient and follows me around off leash! Thank you for watching!
Are you ever using the U1-U2-U3? I did when I had the D7x00-kameras, but on Z-kameras they forget all temporary changes when the camera is turned off. That makes it useless, since my saved settings are only default. If you use the Ux, consider to make a video on that and how you are using it on Z. If not, tell me why you don't.
Hi Patrick, I don’t use them because my settings are usually good for all the types of photography that I do. If I’m not mistaken, the Ux only saves some but not all. Let me check on that for you.
Hey there Noel, and thank you for this instructive video! I own two Nikon D600's, but am desperate looking for a new camera. When I look at my budget, I'm thinking on the Z5 with the FTZ-adapter, because I have FX-glass allready. I mainly use my Nikon 70-200 f2.8 (the 1st version). Can I use this on the Z5 with the adapter, and how would it react with Eye-AF and Animal AF?
Hey Jurgen! Thank you for the kind words. I've been seeing a lot of people using the Z5 + FTZ + 70-200 VR1. That said, I don't have one so I couldn't say anything about eye AF and animal AF performance. You could ask it in the Facebook group, Z5 Z6 Z7 Shooters. Hope that helps.
I have to say it doesn't appear to work on my Z6 and Z6ii. I've set up the function in the menu but when I press either Fn1 or Fn2 it changes nothing. Could I be in the wrong focus mode?
When shooting the z series with this new tracking system, what auto af sensitivity level seems to do the best
Hey Marcus, it depends on how your subject and how you've set up to shoot it. If you're set on a subject, say specific basketball players over time, i'll go for a lower setting so the AF stays with my intended subjects even if there is occlusion. This would be my default setting. I'll only switch to a more sensitive number when the subject is more random, say any given individual in a flock of birds.
Thanks for visiting my hws.
I am very new using this feature I have to say i am not having a great deal of sucess, do a lot of motorcycle fotos using dslr and single point afc back button i have a very good sucess rate not so good with tracking
Those images are not sharp at all.
I think that you should go to your Picture profiles and set the Sharpness to the max! On every sharpness setting which you can adjust, just set it to the max sharpness, this will help you get the sharpest images from your camera.
I had the same images result, where the tracking is working well on the viewfinder/back screen, and after I take a picture and look the image preview, it's showing me that it's focused on the eye, but it's in fact out of focus. By changing the sharpening settings, all of my new shots are crispy and sharp as they should be, because it was nonsense for me, when putting my 70-200mm f2.8 on my 12y old Nikon D700 body, and all of my pictures are sharp, and on this brand new camera body Z6 nothing is in focus (using the FTZ adapter).
Just go and crank the sharpness in the picture profile and you will see the results!
Sad to say, for wildlife, the auto tracking is near to useless for animals moving. I use the Sony A9 for all such demands and with great success.
Hi thanks for watching! I agree, the A9 has better AF, but I disagree that the AF tracking of Nikon is next to useless. Like anything, it just takes some getting used to and making the camera work for you. Also, what keeps me locked in with Nikon is also the color science, which sadly Sony still has a long way to go. But yeah, A9 wins on AF.
VERY SHARP?? GEEZUS STOP THE LIES IT'S NOT SHARP WE CAN SEE THE PICTURE. 13:11 HOW IS THIS SHARP?
Seem you're right. I may have missed that when viewing on a small screen. Thanks for calling it out! :)
Cloning teknology ,,